


Changing Fate

by fanetjuh



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 05:05:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11548074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanetjuh/pseuds/fanetjuh
Summary: She couldn’t be.Peeta shook his head, stared at his wrist again and at the burned bread he had thrown in the grass, a few meters away from where Katniss was hiding.It was probably a coincidence. It had to be a coincidence.- Where the ever changing date your soulmate will die is permanently printed on your skin -





	Changing Fate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Liberte_Egalite_Broadway](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liberte_Egalite_Broadway/gifts).



His wrist started itching before she said the words.

“I volunteer!” Her voice, the voice he had once fallen in love with, was filled with panic. “I volunteer as tribute!” She pushed herself forward and tried to get past the peacekeepers who were supposed to keep her away from the stage, from the tributes, from her sister.

Peeta knew, just like everyone else, that Prim wouldn’t last a second in the arena, but Katniss… He subtly turned his arm around so he could see the date on his wrist. He held his breath.

Not even a minute ago the date, permanently printed in his skin, had been years from now, decades from now. Now it was only 8 days from today.

Peeta swallowed. His already clammy hands started to sweat even more and he could feel his heart racing in his chest. He knew that he was supposed to pay attention to the ceremony. He knew that there was still a chance that Effie would read his name out loud, but somehow that didn’t matter anymore.

His soulmate was on stage. His soulmate would go into that arena. And she would die in 8 days.

Just like everyone else Peeta had been forced to watch the Hunger Games for as long as he could remember. He had seen people die in the most horrible ways. He had seen people drowning. He had seen people starving. He had seen people shredded to pieces by children and animals.

Katniss Everdeen, the girl with the voice of an angel and personally responsible for keeping her family alive, would die like that. She would drown or starve. She would be brutally killed by anyone or anything that lived in that arena.

Peeta swallowed and his forehead was covered in pearls of sweat. He wasn’t sure what he was most afraid of. Was he afraid that his name would be picked? Or was he afraid that his name wouldn’t be picked? What would be worse?

Watching her die and not being able to do something about it? Or trying to keep her alive and failing anyway?

“It's time to choose our boy tribute!” Effie Trinket’s voice was nothing but a vague whisper in the back of his mind.

Maybe the date on his wrist would change again. The date had changed only a few minutes ago. And the date had changed before.

//

_Each and every word his mother yelled at him had lost meaning over time. She had used each and every word before. She had used each and every word that could offend him, hurt him. She had repeated them that often, that Peeta’s brain shut them out._

_He didn’t hear them anymore. He didn’t care about them anymore._

_Even the physical pain, caused by her hitting hands or her kicking feet, had numbed._

_“Who is going to pay for this, do you think?” His mother waved the blackened breads in front of his face. “You, Peeta Mellark." She hissed between her teeth. “You are going to pay for this.” She threw the breads at him and he defended his head with his hands and arms. “You're a coward. A worthless coward! If they would send you into the arena for the hunger games, you wouldn’t survive the first minute!” She spit in his eyes, in his hair, but Peeta didn’t say anything._

_He had learned that keeping silent was less damaging that saying the wrong words. He had learned that every word he used to either defend himself or agree with her was the wrong word._

_“To make sure those breads are not entirely useless…” His mother crossed her arms over her chest. “Go get them to the pigs.”_

_Peeta bent down and as rapidly as he could he grabbed the breads and rushed outside. He probably had a few minutes before his mother would come after him, before she would notice that he had been gone for way too long already, before she would find something else to blame him for._

_Knowing her she would even manage to blame him for the pouring rain._

_Quickly his eyes scanned the area around the house and he took a deep breath when he noticed the familiar silhouette of Katniss Everdeen._

_She was shivering in the cold. She was nothing but flesh and bones. She was clearly in need of clothes, in need of food._  
_Peeta had not much to give, but he stared at the blackened breaths in his hands, at the food he had ruined on purpose so he could make sure that the girl who always sang in his heart wouldn’t die, not like this._

_His mother’s footsteps echoed behind him. She had the rolling pin in her hand already, but Peeta couldn’t care less about it._

_He took a deep breath and he threw the bread as close to Katniss as he dared to. Immediately his wrist started itching. His first instinct was to scratch, but then he realized that it wasn’t his wrist itching._

_It was the date he carried with him ever since he had been born. It was the date telling him when his soulmate would die._

_For as long as he could remember the date had been tomorrow. He had always thought that he’d never get to know his soulmate._

_It was almost impossible to see in the pouring rain._

_Peeta could barely keep his eyes open and he had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn’t imagining things, wasn’t hallucinating things, was seeing things his own mind made up._

_But the date had changed. The date was no longer tomorrow. The date was now years, even decades from now._

_Peeta looked up and his eyes met Katniss' glance._

_She couldn’t be._

_Peeta shook his head, stared at his wrist again and at the burned bread he had thrown in the grass, a few meters away from where Katniss was hiding._

_It was probably a coincidence. It had to be a coincidence._

//

Peeta nervously scratched his wrist.

All kinds of different scenario’s were playing in the back of his mind. And not one of those scenario’s ended with a happily ever after.

“Peeta Mellark!”

His heart stopped beating. His legs refused to move. He held his breath until his lungs started to hurt. When he looked up at the girl on stage, his soulmate, the female tribute, he noticed how she scratched her wrist, like he had done seconds ago, like he had done that one time he had attempted to safe her life.

“Come on, don’t be shy.” Effie Trinket smiled, as if this was a wonderful, beautiful day. As if she had not just condemned two teenagers to die.

Or at least one of them.

Reluctantly Peeta started walking. His steps were slow and careful and the closer he came to the stage, the faster his heart started to beat in his chest. He wanted to look into her eyes. He wanted to talk to her. He wanted to see the date on her wrist.

But the ceremony was far from over.

So Peeta forced himself to keep on breathing, forced himself to shake hands with Katniss without trying to read the numbers on her olive skin, forced himself to fight the tears he wanted to cry so badly. He counted the seconds and the minutes. He didn’t react to his mother telling him that maybe district 12 finally had a winner, knowing very well that she didn’t mean him. And he lost the fight against the tears while they drove towards the train that would bring them to the capital, to their doom.

//

“Hey…” He didn’t know what else to say, but not saying anything didn’t feel right either. “That was a brave thing to do.” He bent his head and avoided her glance while Katniss shrugged her shoulders.

“It wasn’t brave.” She spoke softly and she crossed her arms over her chest. “I'm not gonna let my sister die.” She licked her lips.

Peeta didn’t answer. Instead he stared at the date marked into his skin. “The date on my wrist changed today.”

“Good for you.” Katniss raised her eyebrows, as if she wondered why he was bringing something stupid like that up while they had worse things to worry about it.

“The date on your wrist changed too, right?” He spoke softly and he shifted his weight from one leg to the other while he waited for Katniss to say something.

“That date doesn’t mean anything to me.” She pushed herself up from her seat.

“Were you never curious? Who it could be?” Peeta cocked his head.

“No, I don’t care.” She opened one of the doors, but Peeta followed her, even though she probably didn’t like that at all. “And I for sure don’t care anymore now.” She stood still when they entered the restaurant wagon.

The mahogany tables were filled with food Peeta had only heard of. The air was filled with smells even better than the smell of fresh baked bread Peeta was so used to.

“Do you want to know why I think the dates on our wrists changed today?” Peeta watched how Katniss filled her plate with more than she could probably eat. “I think it’s because you’re my soulmate.” He paused for a moment, but Katniss didn’t seem to hear him. “And I think I’m yours.”

Katniss froze. Her plate fell on the floor of the wagon, shattering into a thousand pieces and when she turned her face to him her eyes were filled with raging flames. “And what do you want me to do with this information?” She raised her eyebrows. “Should I spare your life in the arena?”

Peeta shook his head. “No…” He swallowed. “I don’t stand a chance and we both know that.” He paused for a moment. “But you do.” He took a deep breath. “I'm gonna help you. I don’t care what I have to do. But I’m gonna keep you alive.”

“Even if that means you will die yourself?” Katniss softened her voice and her glance. “Even if that means that I will make it home and you won’t?”

Peeta saw her scratching her wrist again and he felt his own itching too. “Yes, even then.” He wanted to look at his wrist, wanted to see what had changed this time, but he didn’t dare to look, not before Katniss eventually did.

“Congratulations.” She turned her hand around to show him the numbers. “Somehow you make it out of that arena alive.”

Peeta felt his heart hammering against his ribs and he held his breath while he stared at his own wrist. As soon as he saw the new date he frowned his eyebrows.

“What?” Katniss curled her fingers around his arm and she tightened her grip while she squeezed her eyes. “This is impossible.” She raised her voice and let his hand go again.

“What did you decide, Katniss?” He widened his eyes while he locked his glance with hers.

“Nothing.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I just decided I wouldn’t be the one to kill you.”

“Maybe we’ll be the last two.” Peeta almost held his breath and adrenaline rushed through his veins. “Maybe somehow we’ll be the last two to survive. And if I’m not going to kill you and if you’re not going to kill me…”

“There is chance we both survive.” Katniss spoke softly and then she curled her lips up into a slight smile too. “If the dates won’t change again.”

“They won’t.” Peeta shook his head firmly. “Because I don’t want them to.”


End file.
